Effect of nanopatterns on Kapitza resistance at a water-gold interface during boiling: A molecular dynamics study

The effect of nanopatterns on Kapitza resistance of water boiling on a gold surface is examined via molecular dynamics simulations. The TIP4P-Ew potential for water, embedded-atom model for gold, and the calibrated Lennard-Jones parameters for water-gold interactions are used to accurately predict the boiling point of water and the wetting angle of water on gold. The results show that boiling of water does not affect the Kapitza resistance of the water-gold interface. The increase of the height of nanopatterns leads to a reduction of the Kapitza resistance by increasing the interaction energy per unit area at the water-gold interface. With the increase of the width-to-spacing ratio of nanopatterns, the Kapitza resistance reduces due to the decrease of the mismatch between the vibrational density of states of water and gold. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4749393]